Minecraft Week continues with a look at Minecraft Edu - Can a game really be a valuable classroom aid? Mojang believes it can...!

Can you imagine sitting down to computer class, expecting the usual boring 'how to use a word processor' lessons, or the use of some dry educational website, but instead your ICT Teacher announces "Today we're going to play a game. Today we're going to play Minecraft!"

Charlotte, for one, would be ridiculously excited but can Minecraft actually be used as a valuable educational tool?

The ethos behind Minecraft Edu - A special school-friendly remix of the traditional Minecraft game - believes that children can engage with learning valuable programming and 'net citizen' skills through the creative and social side of Minecraft, not to mention some of the aspects of the game that lend themselves well to creating machines, circuits and problem solving.

With educational discounts, and a very easy setup and administration suite, Minecraft Edu can be set up by a class and enjoyed in minutes. Class and teacher-led activities fit into the Minecraft framework, encouraging children to collaborate on projects and problem solving. Children can create their own in-game avatars and use these to 'see' themselves in the class's virtual world.

30 million Minecraft Edu users are utilising this intuitive learning program for various areas of study, from STEM to history, from art and design to programming.

Dive in and investigate Minecraft Edu by visiting the project's webpage, officially supported by Mojang, the original creators of Minecraft.